Bears Win Pair of Matches in Illionis

Mar 10, 2012

ROCKFORD, IL/CHICAGO, IL – The Brown men's tennis team (11-3) won a pair of matches over the weekend in Illinois, defeating Northern Illinois, 5-2, on Friday night, before edging #74 DePaul on Saturday. Sophomore Soufiane Azargui (Burlington, ONT) led Brown, winning all four of his matches, including the clinching victory at #2 singles in the Bears' win over DePaul.

Northern Illinois then went ahead, 2-1, with wins at #1 and #3 singles, but Brown regained the lead, 3-2, with wins by Azargui at #2 (6-2, 6-2) and freshman Daniel Hirschberg (Westport, CT) at #5 (6-3, 6-0).

With Brown needing just one more victory to clinch the win, the Huskies put up a fight, forcing third sets at both of the remaining matches. However, junior Tom Deighton (London, England) earned a 6-1 win in his third set at #6 and Hill was leading 4-1 in his third set at #4, before his opponent retired, helping to clinch the win for the Bears.

On Saturday against DePaul, the Blue Demons took the early lead by winning at #1 and #3 doubles. Azargui combined with freshman William Spector (Weston, MA) for an 8-5 win at #2 and Brown's lone win in doubles.

In singles action, DePaul increased its lead to 2-0 with a win at #5, but Spector got Brown on the board with a straight-set win at #3 (7-5, 6-3). The Blue Demons pulled ahead, 3-1, with a win at #1 singles, but freshman Michael Riechmann (Houston, TX) earned Brown's second point, winning 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4, at #4 singles.

The Bears needed three sets in the final two matches to clinch the win and hand DePaul its first home loss of the season. After dropping his first set, 6-4, at #6, Hill won the next two, 7-5 and 6-4 to tie the match at 3-3. Azargui clinched the match by winning his deciding set, 6-4, after splitting the first two, 7-6 (6) and 4-6.

Brown continues action on Saturday, March 17, when it hosts Stony Brook in a 10:00 a.m. match.